Four people distinguished in their field have been awarded an honorary degree at the University’s postgraduate graduation ceremonies this December.

Andy Rubin

Honorary Doctor of Laws

Andy Rubin is a shareholder and Deputy Chair of Pentland Group, a family-owned company operating in sports brands and retail, including Speedo and Berghaus.

He is Vice Chair of the World Federation of the Sporting Goods Industry and is a Companion of the British Academy of Management and the Chartered Institute of Management. He served as Chair of the Dean’s Council at Lancaster University Management School and is an Honorary Professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation at Lancaster University.

He is also an Enterprise Fellow of the Prince’s Trust.

Andy read Law at Trinity College, Cambridge University and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Baroness Catherine Ashton

Honorary Doctor of Laws

Baroness Catherine Ashton served as the European Union's first High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy between 2009 and 2014. On behalf of the UN Security Council, she coordinated negotiations that resulted in the nuclear programme agreement with Iran. Previously she was EU Commissioner for Trade, served as a Minister in the Departments of Education and Justice, and was Leader of the House of Lords and President of HM Queen's Privy Council. Baroness Ashton is Distinguished Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington D.C and senior advisor to the Geneva based organisation, Humanitarian Dialogue.

Vivien A. F. Bickham MBE

Honorary Doctor of Laws

Vivien has a recognised and proven track record of developing and implementing best practice in the field of Domestic and Sexual Violence and of promoting proactive policy and procedures to safeguard those at risk. In recognition of her work in this field she was awarded an M.B.E.

Vivien is a highly professional leader and team player with outstanding qualifications and over 42 years’ experience working with both male and female survivors of abuse, as well as perpetrators of abuse, which extends from front line support and counselling work through to senior strategic management and learning and development roles.

She has successfully developed bespoke and commissioned training packages and programmes around Adult and Child Safeguarding, Female Genital Mutilation, Honour Based Violence, working with perpetrators, Sexual Assault, Female Rape, Male Rape, Domestic Abuse in Teenage Relationships, Stalking and Harassment, Motivational Interviewing, Hypnotherapy, Mindfulness, Narrative therapy, trauma informed work, Emotional Freedom Therapy and Neuro Linguistic Programming.

Robert A. Rimmer

Honorary Doctor of Science

Dr Robert Rimmer is head of the SRF science and technology department within the Accelerator division at Jefferson Lab, Virginia, USA. He graduated from Lancaster in 1985 and obtained a PhD. in 1988 working at Daresbury Laboratory. He was a staff scientist at Berkeley Lab in California for 13 years before moving to Jefferson Lab. He has worked on various accelerator projects including the construction of the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkeley and the PEP-II collider at SLAC. Since moving to JLab he has been working in the field of superconducting RF including upgrades of the CEBAF accelerator, Jefferson Lab Free Electron Laser and is now leading the SRF R&D for the Electron Ion Collider (EIC).